Checkmate
by AnimeCrazyGirl8
Summary: The Queen has disappeared, and everyone accuses 16 year old Leaf, an orphan that escaped the orphanage a day before the Queen's disappearance. Now as a fugitive, Leaf has to do whatever it takes to clear her name. '"In the orphanage, I've always been that shy, unnoticed girl. However now, I'm free and I'm happy, even if I am a outlaw. It's my new beginning." Gradual ORS, CS, PS, IS


**Reiko: WELL it's a new story. I apologise for the constant writer's block, but it's holidays now so i can write some more. However, i am to review my textbook and notes as well as playing instrument and helping around the house. Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy this story! After reading through my other stories I thought that my language 'back then' wasn't the language I have now, and it just seemed so childish you know? Gawd I'm saying this like it was decades ago -.-. Well in any case, I'm writing a mystery story because i love mystery :D But I'm not really that much of a good mystery writer but I will try my best!**

**Anyway Here's the plot!**

**It's early in the 20th Century in some random country named Sinnoh, and the Queen has disappeared. Even more suspiciously, the day before the Queen's disappearance, an orphan girl escaped from the orphanage. Now suspected of kidnapping and murder, Leaf Green has to do whatever it takes to clear her name - even if it means travelling across the whole of Sinnoh to do so. **

**Main Cast:**

**Leaf (Green), the shy, studious but innerly courageous main character and a 16 year old orphan that turned up on the doorstep of the orphanage as a baby. Fed up with the cruel ways of the orphanage, she escapes with the most worst timing ever - a day before the disappearance of Queen Johanna. **

**May Maple, a humble and pretty 16 year old village girl living in Floaroma Town. She is a fantastic violinist and singer. When she's not playing her violin or performing for the villagers, she's working alongside her little brother Max in a flower shop owned by her parents. **

**Dawn Berlitz, the stubborn, arrogant 15 year old daughter of King Cyrus and Queen Johanna. In other words, she's the princess and the supposedly next heir to the throne. After the disappearance of her mother, she is forced to live a life hidden away in the depts of the palace. Thus, she despises whoever killed/kidnapped her mother.**

**Misty Waterflower, a newly 18 year old 'water gypsy'. She was born in Sunyshore City, but her family sailed somewhere else. When she turned 16, she was given a boat, which she named 'Tondra'. In the beginning her family travelled with her, but a few months before her 18th birthday they allowed her to go off by herself. She earns a living by dancing for near-water villages.**

* * *

A flash of red. A wail. A scream.

_"NO! LET HER GO!"_

Leaf jolted upwards, looking side to side frantically, beads of sweat rolling down her cheeks. _'Thank goodness'_ she thought, _'It was only a dream'_. Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to remember the events of the dream, but it quickly slipped off her mind. She took a quick look at the rusty old grandfather clock in the corner of the room, just visible by the moonlight shining through a window on the opposite side of the room. 3am.

With a small groan, she fell back into her bed, or rather, bunk that she shared with another child in StoneSpace Orphanage. She stared at the ceiling blankly, listening to the clock's pendulum swing side to side.

After half an hour of listening to the pendulum swing, she decided that she couldn't fall back asleep again, so, pushing herself up, she reached behind her towards the wall bookshelf and grabbed a random book.

"_Wind in the Willows," _she read quietly, her heart overflowing with happiness. This was one of the newest books, published only a year ago. As she opened the hardcover and moved her fingers against the crisp white pages, she became absorbed in the adventures of Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad. She journeyed through the book in silence under the warmth and glow of a little candle, feeling as though she was experiencing their adventures as well.

She was just up to the climax of the book when she heard the lock of the dorm click. She swiftly blew out the candle and stuffed the book into the pillowcase, before shifting into her covers pretending to be asleep. Toad's big escape would have to wait.

The footsteps weren't subtle at all. The familiar sound of heels against the floor echoed in the dorm, and a silhouette of a woman glinted in the moonlight. Leaf's stomach sank - she knew all too well who that woman was.

"Get up! All of you!" snarled a purple-haired woman with matching eyes, "You lazy maggots! Breakfast starts in 5 minutes or there's no breakfast for anyone!"

"But Madam Jupiter we've only just - "

"SILENCE!" Madam Jupiter shrieked, veins appearing on her forehead, "Open day is 5am sharp! Pff, I hope someone buys you, you're ALL wicked little creatures from the Devil!" and with that she slammed the door, leaving everyone in the dark.

The younger children began crying and the older ones knew not to argue. It was a sad life where the people who need comfort are ignored and the people who can give comfort don't bother. Leaf however, was an exception.

She was a shy, hardworking girl, but she knew when people needed support. She reluctantly got out of her warm covers into the cold winter-morning air, and climbed down the bunk, coming face to face with her bunkmate, a small blond child named Bonnie. She was crying.

Instantaneously, Leaf opened up her arms and wrapped them around Bonnie's shoulders, listening quietly as the little girl sobbed and hiccuped with tears.

"Oh, Leaf - senpai, will we ever get out of this dark, evil prison?" the girl cried as Leaf rubbed her back.

"We'll have to cope," she replied, ending the embrace and instead offering her hand, "Come now, we must hurry." Bonnie took her hand and they ran towards the wardrobe, which was already crowded with all the girls and boys hustling, hoping for their breakfasts.

They dug through the scattered clothes on the floor, hoping to find their uniforms safe and unharmed. Since Leaf was quite taller then most of the crowd, she was able to push through the crowd and find her uniform, thankfully not in pieces. She quickly slipped on the orphanage grey tunic over her small cotton petticoat that she wore to sleep, pulled up some white socks and put on black shoes.

She spun around to find Bonnie, but was greeted by a rampage of mostly boys, heading towards the dining hall. With a yelp she was forced to run backwards, gazing forlornly at the dorm door. _Sorry Bonnie._

When she arrived at the dining hall, she sat down on a chair, only to have it break into splinters. All the boys around her laughed like fools while the girls like looked down. When she got up sat down in another chair however, their attention was directed to a table at the far end of the dining hall, on which had a big pot. Inside the pot, was the typical gruel and leek. Madam Jupiter walked in with a board in the crook of her arm and glared at their sad faces.

"Well what do you expect?! Gruel and leek are the cheapest things in the market right now! Plus," she scanned the assembly, "by the looks of it, NONE of you will get any breakfast today!" A commotion rang around, with arguing and protesting.

"You can't blame us!" yelled a 18 year old boy named Gary, who was the bully of the orphanage, "All those Juniors let us down!" he glared at the dorm doors, "I came here FIRST and yet I don't get any food?" he balled up his fist tightly, "This is a DISGRACE! Why I ought to wring their little skinny-" He was interrupted when Leaf firmly stood up, slamming the table, head-down, her bangs covering her eyes.

"Frankly," she muttered dangerously, before flinging her head leftwards to throw him a dangerous murder-glare, "It was your own fault for not helping the juniors." The noise in the crowd of children rose and fell as they fearfully observed Gary's reaction. Nothing. Not even a twitch. In her mind, a thousand things were overlapping and slamming into each other. Had she done the right thing?

That second, she heard a chuckle, and she looked up at Gary, who seemed like he was surrounded by a dangerous aura. "So. This is coming from the very person who abandoned her own little 'junior'?" he said, his black eyes cold. Leaf heard a little whimper behind her, and when she turned around, she saw Bonnie and other juniors. _When did they get here? _she wondered, before giving Bonnie an apologetic look.

She slowly turned back to face Gary. "I will accept the fact that I did abandon Bonnie when she needed me. However," she pointed at other 20 or so 'juniors' sitting near Bonnie, "There are two dozen other juniors. Every junior is assigned to be the bunkmate of a senior, yet, I don't see any else helping their bunkmate at all!" she paused to look at Gary. His eyebrow was raised and he was staring at her blankly.

Madam Jupiter sneered at the two before silently retrieving the pot and disappearing through a door.

Gary then chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "You fool, do you really think that helping the juniors will be useful at all?" He smirked, walking towards her in a malicious way. Despite her being tall, he was way taller then her, and his shadow loomed above her. But she still stood strong.

"Alright then. Think it your way. The juniors are weaklings, unable to help us in our activities," she paused, "Then isn't it our job to help them? If we don't help them, then when we are finished, and they are not, at the end, we'll always miss out on breakfast." She gave Gary a serious look, and her eyes burned into his.

He turned around. "Whatever," he scoffed, "I don't mingle with junior-loving freaks," and he walked away, leaving Leaf fuming at his back.

* * *

"Alright! It's open time! People will start coming in! Pinch your cheeks to gain that rosy colour and DO NOT stuff up ANYTHING, UNDERSTOOD?" Madam Jupiter snarled as she walked up and down the straight rows of children, holding a menacing cane. The children shrank as their stomach's rumbled, but nodded quietly.

Madam Jupiter nodded in approval before pointing at different locations, "Go! Do some random things with grace and posture. It's best to get rid of yourselves." Leaf immediately ran to the dorms and climbed onto her bunk, pulling out the book from her pillowcase, excited to continue the book. She heard the door open, and several people entered, whether it was couples looking for a child or a man looking for an suitable wife, everyone passed her when they heard of her passion for reading.

_"Reading? That's for men, dear child! Tell me, do you do embroidery?" _

_"Reading is nonsense! A good wife is a faithful housewife that cleans and helps a man with his daily life." _

_"Why, child, rid yourselves of this nonsense and go into proper things!"_

Leaf thought in silence as everyone's comments whirred in her head. "Thank you very much," a familiar voice said, and Leaf immediately looked up from her book to see Gary leaving with his new parents. Before he left the dorm, he turned around and smirked at her. She pretended not to notice, but it was hard not to imagine what his smirk would look like.

At the end, a total of 10 children left, leaving around 30 remaining. When night fell, they all gathered at the dining hall for dinner, and Leaf sat alone. Bonnie had been adopted as well. After they finished a meal of cabbage and some salted pork, Madam Jupiter stood at the front of the pot, holding her cane.

"RED! You come here THIS INSTANT!" she screamed as her words echoed in the hallway. A skinny raven-haired boy of 17 hobbled up the the front in fright, knowing that he wasn't going up to receive a praise. Madam Jupiter gritted her teeth and told him to take his shirt off. He did reluctantly, and when he did, she turned his back towards her and raised her cane.

As she was descending down, she pressed a button, which swiftly opened the cane and revealed a birch. It whipped across his skin, evidently painful as he screamed, a new red scratch, trailing with blood on his back. She raised the birch again and proceeded to whip him another 9 times.

"THIS FOOL wanted pity," she said in a mock sappy tone, "he decided to hesitate when someone asked him if he was treated alright here. THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS YES!" she screamed, breaking out of the mock tone and replacing it with absolute fury. "No matter how horribly you are treated, it's always a yes! Do you think I WANT to look after you miserable creatures? NO! You wicked demons of hell! Worse then the devil himself! Now because of 'little Reddy's' wrongdoing, you'll ALL get a whipping!" she announced cruelly, raised her red-tipped birch awaiting the next child to suffer.

* * *

Leaf sat on her bunk bed, missing the nightly chats with Bonnie. Covering herself with the bedsheets, she pressed her bony fingers on her bare back, feeling for the new wound. She gasped as her fingers moved across open flesh, feeling all oxygen leave her as a sharp pain bolted up her spine. She hastily breathed in more air and removed her fingers from the injury.

There wasn't anything she could do in this orphanage. No one wanted her for her love of reading. Maybe if she was good at cleaning, embroidery or knitting, then perhaps she would have been long gone.

She lay onto her head face down, brown hair splattered in all directions, thinking about what she should do.

There was a very limited options about what a child could 'do'. In fact, all the orphanage did to her was abuse her, hit her and starve her. If she remained in the orphanage, then what good could come to her? Adding onto that point, Leaf was never going to be adopted if she didn't have the 'basic needs' of a woman. What future would she have if she remained here? What future would she have if she ran away?

She had enough of this. Her future if she ran away wasn't clear yet, but her remaining here was. A life with sadness, abuse, and a lonely death.

She looked up from her pillow, her forest green eyes alert. She knew what to do know. But the problem was, how? She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes determined. No one was going to stop her discovering her destiny.

* * *

**Reiko: ermmm...yeah...um...free choc-chip cookies to any reviewers? Or whatever random sweet? Anyway whatever :D**


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